Bold
by Angelikah
Summary: Caroline is the workaholic Chief Marketing Officer for an incredibly successful cosmetics company, and, as a favor to her best friend, she hires Rebekah's older brother Klaus as her new admin. Through a combination of coffee runs, awkward emails, and social media catastrophes, she might find time in her life for something (or someone) other than work. Klaroline workplace AU/AH.
1. Hired

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Here's a new story that I've been working on (because I clearly need more to do with my life). As with _Linked,_ this story will have chapters of about 3-3.5k words each. If anyone is interested in making a new cover, I would be very grateful! :) I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. :)  
An admin is like a secretary or PA (but more politically correct).  
****Thank you to justanotherfiveminutes &amp; CKhybrid for beta work.  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

"Thank you so much for agreeing to this," Rebekah said for what must have been the hundredth time.

"I didn't say I'd hire him, I said I'd interview him," Caroline replied irritably.

"He's qualified, I promise."

"He sounds overqualified to me. An MBA from Oxford for an admin?"

"Well, as I said, an MBA doesn't get you anywhere if you can't be pleasant."

"Yeah, well, you know how this works. Connections get your foot in the door, but it's your responsibility to stay in the room. If he can't be pleasant to people, then we're going to have a problem."

Rebekah nodded furiously. "You won't regret it, Care, I promise."

"Okay, okay. I gotta go. I have to do some more work before he shows up. I'll see you at the meeting this afternoon?"

"Yes, of course. Thanks again!" Rebekah repeated before Caroline hung up the Skype call.

She sighed irritably as soon as she was sure the call had ended and the camera was off.

Caroline was the Chief Marketing Officer for a large and relatively new cosmetics company, _Bold_, and she'd worked hard to get to where she was. At twenty-six, she was one of the youngest CMOs for a Forbes 100 company in history, and she had to prove that she deserved her title every day.

It was bad enough that Anna had to leave, but having to interview Rebekah's brother was going to be a pain. Rebekah had joined the company shortly after Caroline, working with product design, and they had become best friends very quickly. If it had been anyone else, Caroline wouldn't have considered the favor for a second. She'd looked him up (as she would have with any other candidate), and as Rebekah had insisted, her brother was (over) qualified.

She was just about to pull out her latest pile of paperwork from her inbox when Anna knocked on her door and stuck her head into the room.

"Miss Forbes?"

"Anna, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Caroline?"

Anna gave her a cheery smile at the inside joke. She'd been Caroline's admin for eight months, and Caroline told her to call her by her given name every day, and every day Anna ignored her.

"Until Friday," Anna joked, before continuing, "He's here. Are you willing to see him early?"

Caroline shrugged and nodded, making the snap decision to face the lesser of two evils in the competition between Rebekah's brother and paperwork.

"All right, I'll send him in right away."

The man who walked in moments later was dressed in a suit, and when she got up to shake his hand, his grip was firm, but not crushing, and he gave her a small smile. He looked exactly the way that he did on his LinkedIn account (and Rebekah's Instagram).

_No one should be allowed to be that photogenic._

"Thank you for agreeing to see me," He said.

Polite and professional. Good signs so far, but from the conversation she'd had with Rebekah she found herself feeling a little bit suspicious.

"Take a seat."

He did so, not looking nervous at all, edging on arrogant. She wondered if he thought that he was guaranteed the job because of Rebekah. She hoped not, because that was most certainly not the case.

"So, tell me about yourself."

"I have an MBA from Oxford. I worked for my father's company in Britain before making the move to the United States two years ago, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to interview for this job."

He sounded anything but excited, and Caroline's lips twitched slightly.

"You have an MBA. Why are you looking for a job as an admin?"

"I'm looking for more experience in the work world, as the only long-term job I've had was for Mikaelson Corp. I have good organizational skills and I think that this would be a good fit for me to gain some work experience."

She nodded, knowing that he was lying his ass off, but respecting his capability to sell himself with complete bullshit. Rebekah had told her that Klaus was an insensitive asshole who'd been fired from three jobs so far because he couldn't be polite to save his life, at least, not to coworkers. Apparently he was perfectly capable of being charming and kind to clients.

"Why do you want to work for a cosmetics company of all places?"

"It's always good to try new experiences and learn new things, and I think that this company will help me do just that."

"It says on your resume that you've never had an admin job before. Do you know what's expected of you?"

"Organizing your appointments, taking phone calls, and filtering your e-mail in order of importance, as well as anything else you may ask of me," He promptly replied.

Caroline pressed her lips together, slightly impressed that he seemed to have done his research, and considering her options. The only other applicant who was even close to qualified so far was a part-time graduate student named Liv, but she'd gotten a bad vibe from the girl. Unlike Klaus, who just felt like he could be an arrogant asshole, her conversation with Liv made her feel like the girl was genuinely malicious and catty, which she really didn't have time for. In addition, she did only have a few days until Anna left and she had so much on her plate already that she didn't want to have to conduct more interviews before Friday, especially since Anna would need to train whoever she hired.

She asked a few more questions, to which he gave satisfactory answers.

"Do you have any questions?" She asked, feeling like she had enough information.

"None at all."

"As a favor to Rebekah I'll give you a chance," Caroline said slowly, "When can you start?"

"Any time," Klaus said promptly.

"Be here tomorrow at eight. Anna will train you. Thanks for coming," Caroline said briskly, turning back to her work, a clear dismissal.

She heard him get up and leave, and Anna knocked on her door a moment later.

"He's cute," She said, grinning, "If I didn't have Jeremy…"

Caroline snorted. "I have no opinion on the subject."

Yes, he was cute, but she didn't want to develop a crush on her _admin _of all people.

That was a recipe for disaster, if there ever was one.

"You're his boss, not blind."

She gave Anna a sharp look, and her admin grinned unrepentantly.

"Well, he'll be here tomorrow at eight. Be ready to train him."

Anna nodded solemnly. "Yep. Do you have anything you need me to do before he starts? I checked and I don't see anything on your schedule that's possible to screw up royally on, but I just thought I'd ask."

Caroline shook her head. "No, I don't think so. That reminds me, though. Is there anything hugely pressing between lunch and the meeting this afternoon?"

"I don't think so. Why, do you want me to clear it?"

Caroline rubbed her temples. "I just need to touch base with Kat before the meeting. Can you check her schedule?"

"Yep."

"All right, I have things to do. This press release about the problematic ad in Vogue won't write itself. Honestly, I don't know what Bree was thinking when she let them put this out."

"Obviously she wasn't," Anna said, smiling slightly.

"Clearly," Caroline mumbled.

**XXX**

"The _Bold_ woman is a confident risk-taker. We need to craft this campaign accordingly," Caroline said, clicking the remote so that the picture on the plasma screen changed from a picture of three of their best Spring ad spreads of previous years to a bulleted agenda before continuing, "The goal of today's team meeting is to conceptualize our Spring ad campaign. When people see our logo, we want them to immediately think of the _Bold_ woman. Rebekah Mikaelson from our product design department is here to talk about what's new this Spring and the themes in our new set of liquid liners, and then we're going to try to put together a plan for the campaign."

Caroline sank into her seat after handing the slide remote to Rebekah. She had spoken to Rebekah earlier and had started to jot down some ideas already.

As Rebekah stood in front of Caroline's marketing team spewing out a huge amount of bullshit about being "inspired by the grace of hummingbirds" (in other words, metallic colors were "in" this Spring), Caroline started a fresh list of words they might use for the product name.

She glanced up every now and then to see where Rebekah was in her talk, and by the time her friend had finished talking she was ready to start.

"Thank you, Rebekah," Caroline said, turning off the screen, "I need you to work with your teams to come up with a pitch for a line of print ads. It's a spring ad, so think bright. The theme is hummingbirds, obviously. We'll meet back up next Friday to revisit this. Thank you."

**XXX**

Klaus walked in at 7:55 to see Anna already sitting at her desk typing furiously. She looked up and smiled at him.

"Good morning."

"Hello."

She motioned for him to sit beside her. "All right. So, I'm leaving on Friday, which means we have to get you up to speed by then."

He nodded, and then let Anna prattle on for quite awhile, only half listening and trying very hard to keep his eyes from glazing over.

From what information he gathered when he managed to actually pay attention, there was more to this than organizing appointments and taking phone calls. He had to make sure that whoever was trying to get Caroline's time or attention was actually worth it, which meant that before he scheduled anything he would have to make sure that it couldn't be taken care of by one of her employees (Anna called them 'minions', and he wasn't quite sure whether he was supposed to laugh or not). He also had to make sure that she ate every day, that she got an adequate amount of warning before she had to do things and had the materials to do them... The list seemed to go on for hours, though it had probably been only minutes, and he felt himself zoning out (most of what she said he felt that he could figure out on his own).

Anna's phone started ringing and she abruptly stopped what she was saying to pick it up.

"Hello, you've reached the office of Caroline Forbes….Mmmhm….Is that really necessary?" Anna was asking, balancing the phone on her shoulder and clicking through Caroline's calendar, "Well, I don't think she's available then. How's Monday at nine?"

She frowned, apparently annoyed by what the person on the other line was saying, "Yes…No, Marcus, I'm _very _aware that there is a time difference…Well, if he wants to meet with her so badly he'll have to wake up at six for it…Of course, I'll write him in. Thank you," Anna said, her cheery tone of voice a complete contrast to the look of irritability on her face.

She placed the phone on the cradle a bit more roughly than necessary. She sighed and then gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Where was I?"

"Food at meetings," He said, giving himself a mental shake.

"Right," Anna said brightly, bouncing back to cheerfulness much too quickly for him to adapt to, "So, if a meeting is in the morning before about nine, then you should make sure that there are enough bagels for everyone plus three, and one cardboard tank of coffee for every seven people, plus an extra. If it's in season, so now, get a fruit plate as well. If there's a lunch meeting, a sandwich buffet should be fine, or if you're really motivated you can do something a little bit more complicated, like a salad bar. Everything good so far?"

He nodded.

"Great! So, she'll be here in around ten minutes—eight thirty is usually when she gets here, but you should be here at eight just in case she's here early. I already wrote down everything you need to know about food on here," Anna said, brandishing a large index card on which was printed a list of take-out restaurants, their phone numbers, and what he should order.

It also listed how she took her regular coffee, what to get her if they were out of anything required for a non-fat-sugar-free-caramel-latte-with-an-extra-shot when he did go to Starbucks, and, in case of emergency (there wasn't anything open/available on the list), what individual foods she disliked.

"I also have three extra outfits for her in here," Anna continued, pointing at a small wooden set of drawers, "One's casual, one's formal, and one's for business meetings. If she ever ends up needing one, she'll most likely send you back to her apartment to pick up a replacement outfit. You are capable of matching clothes, yes?"

He debated asking her if he looked colorblind to her, but ultimately decided it might be best not to antagonize her and nodded instead.

"Excellent!" She said happily before returning to her desk, "You'll also need to stay stocked on office supplies and other necessities. I have a binder where I record when I last ordered things. I know it seems really annoying, but if you keep it up-to-date it can save a _lot _of time," She said, dropping a two-inch three ring binder crammed full of papers on the desk in front of him.

The phone rang again, and Anna immediately picked up. "Hello, you've reached the office of Caroline Forbes…No, I'm sorry, she's not in at the moment…Yes, of course, I'll let her know…Monday at five?...all right, well, I'll see what I can do," Anna was saying, scrolling down Caroline's calendar, "Yeah, she has a meeting at four-thirty, which might end up running long," Klaus frowned as he looked over Anna's shoulder. There was absolutely nothing on either calendar, "Yes, of course, have a good day," She said, hanging up.

"Why did you say she was busy? There's no meeting," Klaus asked.

Anna nodded. "I know. That was Tyler Lockwood, Caroline's ex-boyfriend. They're still 'friends'," she said, making air-quotes, "But I usually let Caroline know before I schedule anything with him, just in case. Oh, that reminds me," She said quickly, pulling out another index card, "This is a list of her friends and family that know her work number. I've written their level of urgency next to their names."

This woman seemed to really like lists. He hoped that not everyone at this stupid company was a list person. He _hated _making lists. Why do that when you could just keep track of it in your head?

"Like, if her Mom calls and wants to schedule something, you should generally always schedule it unless she has something important going on. Same thing if it's Stefan, Elena, or Bonnie. If Tyler calls, make something up that's vague, I usually just say that she has a meeting, and then double check with her. If it's a personal calendar thing, always let her know as soon as possible after you schedule it, just in case she needs something to come up. That happens often enough that people won't question it."

Klaus nodded. He was about to sarcastically ask whether she had a list of plausible excuses to avoid a phone call in addition to all of her other lists when he heard the door open, and turned around to see Caroline coming in, looking harassed. Anna immediately took Caroline's coffee cup out of some contraption that he assumed kept it warm and handed it to her.

"Thanks so much, Anna," She said, sipping from it.

"Of course. Okay, so schedule for today," Anna started, rattling off about five different meetings, before saying, "And Tyler Lockwood called this morning to ask whether you were free at five on Monday for drinks with a few friends."

"Did you ask him who was going?"

"Not directly, but he said that Stefan would be there. If you'd like I can give him a call…?"

"That would be great Anna, thanks. So, first meeting at…"

"Nine," Anna replied promptly, "With Rebekah about the proposals due Friday."

Caroline nodded. "Okay," She said, sighing, before turning to Klaus. "Good morning."

"Good morning."

They were both completely silent for a few moments before Anna spoke, "Should I send her in when she gets here?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. That's fine," Caroline said, taking another sip of coffee, "Just not before eight forty-five, okay?"

"Yep," Anna said cheerfully.

Caroline left to her office, closing the door quietly behind her. Anna turned to Klaus again. "Sorry, she's not really awake until she's finished a cup of coffee. Anyway, this work phone forwards to my work cell phone, so that when I'm out running errands for her I can answer it. When I leave on Friday I'll give you that cell phone. Your personal one should be completely separate."

"All right."

"So, let me show you how the calendars work…"

About twenty minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door and Rebekah entered, her smile twisting into a slightly evil smirk when she saw her brother sitting at the desk next to Anna.

"I knew you'd get it," She crowed happily. "Now, I'd like some coffee please."

He snorted. "Are you suddenly unable to lift a coffee pot, Bekah?"

"No, but it's your job now, Nik. Just because I'm your sister doesn't mean you don't have to get me coffee."

He shot Anna a quick look, who raised her eyebrows at him and jerked her head towards the coffee pot before returning to her typing.

"One cream and one—"

"Yes, yes, Bekah, I know how you take your coffee," He interrupted, rolling his eyes as he prepared her coffee and pushed it into her hands.

"Now now, Nik, don't be rude," She said, smirking and taking a sip.

"You can go in, Rebekah," Anna said, looking faintly amused by the interaction.

Rebekah nodded and thanked her before knocking on Caroline's door and stepping in, shutting it behind her.

The day passed mostly uneventfully, though Klaus was glad that he'd have another two days to get used to the speed of things. It wasn't that he couldn't keep up, but there were just lots of things that he'd never considered about how busy Caroline's life was and how complicated it was to schedule everything.

After Caroline left around six, which according to Anna was incredibly early for her, Klaus turned to her and tried to figure out how to word his question.

Caroline seemed to be a rather pleasant person, not at all the way he'd expected, as Bekah's friends tended to be as entitled and rude as she was, and Klaus wanted to know whether the day was an outlier.

"What's it like, working for Caroline?"

Anna smiled. "Caroline is the best boss I've ever had, and I'm not just saying that. She takes everything she does really seriously, and she's really nice. She's kind of scary when she's irritated or when people don't do what they're supposed to do, but if you do your job, she's really great to work for."

He nodded slowly. "All right."

"There are a few things that she's super rigid about though. Always be on time for everything. If she asks you to take care of something, follow her instructions exactly. There's nothing she hates more than people who can't follow simple directions. Also, I know I said that she's really nice, and she is, but flattery will lose you points. She likes honesty. If she asks you for your opinion, you give it, no matter how much you think she won't want to hear it."

"All right," He said again, glad that he most likely wouldn't have to be on his best behavior all day every day (there was nothing more exhausting than being nice to idiots).

Anna smiled at him, clearly mistaking his looking out for his own self-interest for anxiety. "You'll do fine, I'm sure. I'll show you how to get everything organized when you leave, and then I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :D  
What do we think about Klaus's attitude towards his new job? Do we like the Rebekoline friendship? Are we excited to see Klaus and Caroline interact alone? Review and let me know what you think! I won't know if you don't tell me ;)  
Hugs!  
-Angie**

Copyright 2015, Angelikah


	2. The Consequences of Snooping

**A/N: Thank you to Sophie, D, and Wifey for beta work.  
Enjoy!**  
**-Angie**

* * *

It was his first day without Anna and he was already doing it wrong.

Well, really the baristas were just incompetent, but he knew she'd find a way to blame it on him if her coffee wasn't correctly made. Actually, he didn't _know_, but since it seemed like she wasn't the sort of person to tolerate things going wrong, even if it was something that couldn't have been avoided, he was willing to bet on it.

"Sorry, sir. We're out of sugar-free caramel. Would you like regular caramel flavoring, or something else?"

"Non-fat mocha with sugar-free peppermint syrup," he said after quickly checking the list Anna had made for him of drink priority, resisting the urge to retch just reading the order.

"Would you like whipped cream on that, sir?"

Klaus checked his list and realized it didn't say. This was why he hated lists. No matter how thorough they were, there was always something wrong with them.

"No whip," he practically growled, a foolproof plan hatching in his mind.

"Name?"

"Caroline."

The barista raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, but at Klaus's glare, she quickly scribbled down the name on the cup, pushing it aside. "That will be three dollars and sixty-five cents."

Klaus handed over the gold Starbucks card that Anna had given him (and linked to his work phone so that he'd know when he had the free drink reward) (and by "he" he meant "Caroline"), and waited impatiently for the receipt to print before eyeballing the amount of people waiting by the counter.

He decided he'd have enough time, and left the shop quickly, crossing the street to the drugstore and quickly locating the whipped cream. He bought it and returned the coffee shop to pick up her mocha (which was conveniently done just as he entered). Checking his watch and swearing when he saw the time, he speed-walked to his car and pulled up in front of the building with two minutes to spare, feeling incredibly grateful that now that Anna was gone, he had her reserved parking space.

He had just sat down in the office, the whipped cream in the fridge and Caroline's coffee warming in its heating device, when Caroline sailed in, looking exhausted. He handed her the coffee. "They were out of caramel, so I got the sugar-free peppermint mocha."

"Non-fat?" she asked.

He nodded. "And I didn't know if you wanted cream, so I bought some at the drugstore. It's in the fridge if you'd like it."

She looked slightly surprised. "That's really thoughtful of you," she said, smiling. "Thanks."

"Of course."

She didn't get the cream, but he felt like the accidental brownie points were worth it. The phone rang, and he turned to answer it.

"After you've hung up the phone, I need an update."

"Of course, Miss Forbes," he said, sitting at the desk and picking up the phone. "You've reached the office of Caroline Forbes, how may I assist you?"

He saw Caroline give him a soft smile, which he returned before she moved to her office, closing the door softly behind her.

"Hi, my name is Elena Salvatore. I was hoping that I could talk to Caroline."

"Just a moment," he said, checking the list of people that he could put through without screening, and saw _Elena Salvatore _printed neatly on the list. "I'll put you through," he said, pressing the button to forward the call to Caroline's phone.

He set down the receiver and turned back to his computer, looking at the emails that had come in that morning. He had access to all of the emails coming into Caroline's work account, though a lot of it was forwarded from her personal email, and he had to catalogue them. He looked through them quickly, making notes of meetings that were scheduled and people they needed to call back, before stopping at one that had come in early that morning from someone in the product design department, which had already been opened even though he hadn't recorded anything. He frowned, trying to decide whether to look.

Generally, anything sent within the company email network he was supposed to check, but something felt off about it (perhaps it was the way the subject was in all capital letters, but he had a strange feeling that he shouldn't read it).

Naturally, he clicked on it anyway.

**From: Bonnie Bennett**

**To: Caroline Forbes**

**Subject: Re: THIS IS THE THIRD TIME**

_Didn't you talk to him a week ago about this? If he's not changing, it's time to let this one fly free. You deserve better._

_Best,_

_Bonnie Bennett_

–

_Director of Product Design _

_Bold Inc._

_575 5th Ave. _

_New York, New York_

_Bonnnniiiieeee_

_HE DID IT AGAIN. Like, I understand not feeling like it ONE time, but seriously? I don't understand what his deal is. Did the last girl he dated need to eat more fruit, or something?_

_Sincerely, _

_Caroline Forbes_

–

_Chief Marketing Officer_

_Bold Inc._

_575 5th Ave._

_New York, NY_

Klaus sat perfectly still, reading Caroline's original email and the reply at least five times each. Could they really be talking about what he _thought _they were talking about?

And if they were, why on earth would anyone _not _jump at the chance to have fulfilling sexual experiences with Caroline Forbes?

He scrolled down to find Bonnie's previous emails, unable to locate them, before going up to the search bar and typing Bonnie's name.

He found messages from her personal email, and realized that it must have simply been a _Send As_ error, meaning that it wasn't intended for Caroline's work email, which meant he _really _shouldn't read the previous conversations from her personal email.

But since when had Klaus done anything the way he was supposed to?

**From: Bonnie Bennett**

**To: Caroline Forbes**

**Subject: Re [2]: This relationship is a disaster**

_Caroline did you seriously just say that not reciprocating oral sex is "rude"? I'd put it more like it's a DEALBREAKER. If he doesn't want to go down on you, let him go. If he isn't willing to try your TAMER fantasies at least once, let him go. _

_-B_

_I just talked to him. Apparently, he says he doesn't like 'Cunnilingus' – yes, he DID actually call it that – but that he'll try for me._

_Damn right he will, because not reciprocating oral sex is rude._

– _Care_

–_-_

_Just talk to him about it. Is it that he tried it already and didn't like it, or that he wasn't willing to try it?_

_-B_

_So I told him and he said that we should "work up to it"_

_What does that even MEAN? _

_How does one "work up" to eating me out?_

_And anyway, that's not the only thing that he's been dismissive of. He thinks that roleplaying is "creepy"_

_I CAN'T HANDLE SOMEONE WHO ONLY DOES VANILLA, BON. I JUST CAN'T._

– _Care_

Klaus wasn't sure what to process first: The fact that his (incredibly attractive) boss did not have a fulfilling sex life, or the fact that she did not think vanilla sex was fulfilling.

Not that he'd knock the missionary position (well, he'd knock _her in _the missionary position), but he was open.

_Very _open.

Especially for Caroline The-Vision-of-My-Arse-Framed-By-This-Pencil-Skirt-Should-Be-Illegal Forbes.

He directed himself back to the problem at hand: That email had clearly not been the beginning of the conversation, and he was already snooping anyway, so was it really any worse to keep going?  
He ignored the inner voice that sounded suspiciously like his too-proper brother Elijah and decided that it wasn't.

Scrolling down the list, he found a promising conversation that had occurred shortly before the one he had been reading.

**From: Bonnie Bennett**

**To: Caroline Forbes**

**Subject: Re: HELP**

_Care, if you're not getting what you need you should move on, unless roses and violins are enough to get you off at night. _

_And anyway, didn't we agree that the hair was totally compensation for something?_

_Look. Just sit him down and tell him. It's not catastrophic. The worse that happens is that you break up with him and find someone who will give you what you want._

_-B_

–

_Stefan keeps saying no to going down on me after I blow him, and clearly this isn't a normal guy thing, since Enzo, Jesse, and Tyler were all totally fine with it. I've asked him a few times and he just gets all uncomfortable. _

_I feel like this is a red flag._

_-Care_

So clearly Caroline was going to be single soon. She seemed like the sort of person who wouldn't date a co-worker, especially one who was her subordinate (not that he had _any _problem with being her subordinate in any way, shape or form), but perhaps he could change her mind (or, at the very least, wait for an opportune time to strike, such as when he found a job he actually intended to keep in the long-term).

Just as he was pondering this, a new email came in.

**From: Bonnie Bennett **

**To: Caroline Forbes**

**Subject: Re [2]: Oops!**

_Your loss. He seems into you._

_I stalked him on Bekah's Instagram and he looks damn good with no shirt, too._

_I know you have the thing about dating co-workers, but he's not going to be an admin forever. He's too qualified. You know as well as I do that this is him networking and trying to find options. _

_You don't have to decide now. Just see how it goes._

_Hope the minions are good today!_

_-B_

_I'M NOT GOING TO DATE MY ADMIN, BON._

_And it's fine. I don't think he saw it._

_I'll talk to Stefan on our date tonight._

_And by "talk to" I mean "dump"_

_Have a meeting. We can talk later._

_-Care_

–

_It's no problem for me, but I hope new guy didn't see it. :(_

_Anyway, you totally have better options than Stefan._

_Aforementioned new guy is cute. ;)_

_-B_

_I AM SO SORRY. I didn't mean to send that to your work e-mail. I changed it to your personal. My bad!_

_-Care_

He smirked. He was into her, he most _definitely _looked good sans-shirt, and it was most certainly her loss if she didn't see it.

And from what he knew of Caroline Forbes, she was nothing if not a winner.

**XXX**

"I can't do this anymore," Caroline blurted as Stefan walked her to the front door of her condo.

She was the Chief Marketing Officer of an incredibly successful company, ate incompetent interns for breakfast, and still made it to the gym every day at six in the morning.

And yet, she still sounded like a sixteen year old when attempting to break up with someone tactfully.

He gave her a hurt look. "What? Why? Is this about the sex thing again?"

She had felt slightly guilty until he said that, and then all guilt completely faded.

What a self-centered _ass._

"It doesn't matter," she said diplomatically. "The point is that we're done."

She gave him an icy glare and waited until he'd left before entering her building, pulling out her cell phone and dialing Klaus.

"Hello, Miss Forbes."

"Hi, Klaus," she said tiredly, making a mental note to tell him that he could call her by her first name as soon as possible without making it look like she was coming onto him (she felt old every time anyone even _remotely _older than her called her by her last name). "I need you to take Stefan Salvatore off of the list."

"The immediate forward list?"

"Yeah," she said tiredly, kicking off her heels.

"I'll take care of it," he said. There was an awkward silence for a moment before he spoke. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No. Thank you, though. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Of course, Miss Forbes."

She hung up the phone and dropped it on her couch, taking a minute to change into a t-shirt and sleep shorts before grabbing the remote to watch some television.

She just needed someone incredibly attractive who was willing to put up with her shitty work schedule, had the same sexual preferences, and she could hold an intelligent conversation with. Preferably also funny.

These were not difficult expectations to meet, in her humble opinion.

Why was her life so _hard_?

**XXX**

Caroline thanked Klaus for the coffee and took it into her office as usual, closing the door behind her. It had been three months since he'd started working for her, and everything was going well. He was competent, intelligent, and she'd felt slightly bad for pigeonholing him as a total asshole when she'd interviewed him. She'd even grown to like him.

She put her cup down on the desk and took off her jacket, draping it around the desk chair, and bent to plug in her laptop. When she stood up, she dropped one of the manila folders, and her coffee spilled all over her desk.

She quickly grabbed her laptop (managing to save it from Coffee Hell), but her dress wasn't as lucky.

She swore loudly (that was $300 down the drain) and stomped out of her office to Klaus's desk, who looked up and was clearly attempting to fight down a smile.

"Hello, Miss Forbes."

"I need a change of clothes."

"I can see that," he said, his lips twitching.

"It is not funny."

"I know," he said, though his smile grew as he unlocked the cabinet Anna kept the larger supplies in (as well as the three garment bags holding Caroline's extra clothes).

"Business meeting?"

"Yep," she said, knowing that he knew already, but happy that he'd double-checked.

He handed her the garment bag and the small tupperware of matching jewelry, though she waved the shoebox away after checking the outfit in the bag to see if they'd match what she was currently wearing, and closed the cabinet.

"Would you mind going to the condo and grabbing me another meeting outfit?"

"Of course."

"Do you have the extra key?" she asked, and he nodded. "Great. Just make sure you pick from the rack on the right."

"Err...All right?"

She decided not to bother explaining how online clothing rentals worked (yes, she was CMO, but they definitely didn't pay her enough to walk around in Dolce &amp; Gabbana dresses or Armani pencil skirts on her own dime), instead just hoping he'd have the sense to follow directions.

"Before you go, though, can you get me another coffee?"

Every time she asked him to do something simple like get coffee she could almost see him inwardly seething (but, _hello_, it was his job).

It would have been kind of endearing if he wasn't such a colossal ass.

Then again, he wasn't really an ass to _her_. Just to the people he was on the phone with who were attempting to waste her time (and really, she couldn't exactly blame him, as they were, by extension, wasting his time).

He nodded though, and by the time she'd changed and freshened her makeup he had another latte waiting for her, which she happily took.

She took a sip and sighed in contentment before grabbing her laptop bag and heading to the conference rooms.

**XXX**

He had no idea what to pick.

He had spent the first five minutes finding her walk-in closet and he'd now been standing at the entrance to it staring at the clothing hanging there.

He'd thought Anna was merely being impertinent when she'd asked if he was able to match clothes, but it seemed that she was being perfectly serious.

He knew that he was supposed to pick a full outfit (including jewelry and shoes), and Anna had told him that it would probably be easier to go with a dress than separates. He moved to the rack on the right and studied the dresses, moving to pick a rather thin blue dress and pulling it out before realizing that it would not be even _close _to appropriate for work.

The fabric looked like it would fit her like a second skin, and the hemline would probably hit just under her arse. He tried very hard not to imagine her in it (and subsequently bunching it up around her waist and fucking her against the door to her office), but felt his cock twitch all the same. He gritted his teeth, slotting the dress back into its place and continuing to look through them.

He found a rather modest green dress and slid it into a garment bag, grabbing a pair of brown heels and some matching jewelry and laid them on her bed before checking his watch. She still had half an hour to be in the meeting, and he knew it would probably run over, but all the same he wanted to get back to the office as soon as possible.

He didn't feel comfortable being in her apartment alone or going through her clothing. He respected her enough as a person that he would feel horribly guilty about invading her privacy, and he didn't want to accidentally mess anything up.

He couldn't think of anything more counter-productive to getting Caroline to agree to a date with him than pawing through her underwear like a skeezy teenager.

Tempting? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely not.

He draped the garment bag over his arm, holding the box of accessories, and locked up after himself before leaving the building to drive back to the office. When he arrived he set all of Caroline's belongings where they were supposed to be and went back to work, checking through her email and making a few calls.

She arrived back from her meeting a few minutes after he'd hung up from his fifth phone call and nodded at him, a small smile on her face, before entering her office and shutting the door behind her.

The phone rang again and he picked it up, holding it to his ear. "You've reached the office of Caroline Forbes."

"Hello, this is Matt Donovan. I'm the photographer for the Spring campaign shoot starting next week?"

"Yes. Of course. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I'm taking a sabbatical for the next two months-family emergency-and I just wanted to let you know ahead of time that we're sending one of our other photographers, if that's okay with you? She's a recent hire, but she's really good. I'm sure you'll be happy with her work."

"Yes, that's fine," Klaus said. "Just have her present proof of employment at the set of the shoot."

"Great. Thanks."

"Of course. Thank you for calling."

He set the phone back in its cradle and sighed, turning back to the computer. The job wasn't so bad, really, though he could do with a bit of a pay raise. He'd start looking for another one soon (though he had a feeling that he'd be putting it off until he got a bit more of a reaction from Caroline).

**XXX**

Klaus walked on set of the photo shoot, intending to do a quick overview to make sure everything was running smoothly. It wasn't technically part of his job, but he knew that Caroline would want to be in and out quickly (flashing lights gave her a headache, and an in-pain Caroline was a pain for _him_).

Everything looked good, and he turned to leave nearly bumping into who was clearly the photographer.

A very _familiar _photographer.

"Nik," she greeted, smiling and putting her box of materials down to envelop him in a hug.

He didn't hug back, instead attempting to gracefully disentangle himself. The woman who had betrayed him, broken his heart, and was one of the most manipulative self-serving bitches he'd ever met in his entire life was the photographer on this photoshoot.

"Tatia."

"How are you?"

_I was doing fine, but now I have the urge to grab a pitchfork and shove it through your cold, dead, demonic heart._

"Doing well, and yourself?" he asked politely, hoping that Caroline wouldn't walk in.

He was not in luck, and she sailed through the door, texting and gracefully dodging the people moving around her.

"You must be the photographer," she said without greeting, holding out her hand. "I'm Caroline Forbes."

"I'm Tatia Dobreva. It's nice to meet you," Tatia said politely. "I'll get started in just a minute."

Both women remained in place, and Klaus didn't know how to react to what was clearly some sort of alpha female stand-off (Caroline was winning), and started to hedge away before Tatia looked back at him.

"So, anyway, want to catch up over drinks after this, maybe?"

"Do you two know each other?" Caroline asked, looking a bit confused.

"Yeah. We go way back," Tatia said cheerfully. "So, how about it, Nik?"

"I'd rather not, Tatia," Klaus said, straining himself to stay civil.

"But it would be so much fun," she said, a wicked gleam in her eye.

"No."

"Plea–"

"He said no," Caroline cut in firmly. "I suggest you stop pestering my admin, Tatia."

"I was just teasing," Tatia said, brushing off Caroline's comment.

He saw Caroline raise an eyebrow, one of her early warning signs of an impending You're-Fucked-Please-Leave speech, and felt the bizarre urge to laugh.

He was about to excuse himself (not only did he not want to speak to Tatia, but he also had things to do), when it struck him that Caroline might be jealous. He tried to subtly get a read on her body language, but she looked as stoic and cold as she ever did toward people who weren't meeting her expectations.

"Well, don't," Caroline said to the photographer, her tone clipped. "Here at 'Bold' we have a zero-tolerance policy for any type of harassment, whether well-intentioned or not, and I happen to be fond of my admin. I'd like you to refrain from it in the future."

She abstained to mention that they also had a policy at Bold preventing an employee from publicly chastising another employee, but Klaus didn't mind all that much.

It looked like his instinct had been right. Caroline was jealous.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! How did we feel about the emails? Are we excited for Klaus? What's up with Tatia? Any predictions? Let me know! :D  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	3. Conflict of Interest

**A/N: Hey everyone! Just so you know, this story is going to be a lot shorter than my stories usually are. Therefore, it'll move at a very fast pace.  
Thank you to D, Sophie, and Wifey for beta work.  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

"Thank you," Klaus said uncomfortably as soon as Tatia was out of earshot.

"Of course. Did you make sure everything's organized?"

"Yes. They should send the photos over by Tuesday."

"Good," Caroline said. "We should go. Flashing lights give me a headache."

He pushed down the urge to tell her that he was aware, instead following her out of the building to the car.

"Can I ask you a personal question? You don't have to answer it," she said as she walked to the driver's side and slipped in.

"I suppose," Klaus said uncomfortably, fastening his seatbelt on the passenger's seat.

"How do you know her?"

Klaus grimaced. "Do you really want to know?"

"Only if you're willing to tell me. You really don't have to."

Klaus nodded slowly. "Well, I assume that you know from Rebekah that I have quite a few siblings?"

Caroline nodded, looking confused as to where this was going (answer: nowhere good).

"All right. Two or so years ago, I met Tatia at a bar, and we hit it off. I asked her for dinner, and we began to date soon after. Just around the same time, my brother Elijah started seeing someone, but was rather secretive about who it was."

Realization was dawning on Caroline's face, and he suppressed a glare as she moved her eyes off of the road for a moment to give him a sympathetic look, opting to look away instead. He hated pity.

"Right. Long story short, we had a family dinner and both promised to bring our girlfriends to meet the family. I'm still not quite sure how she could have possibly missed that we were brothers, or perhaps she was just doing it because she's a vile scheming...Well, regardless, she made up some excuse for me and went with Elijah, which of course meant that she ended up coming to the dinner, and I saw her. It was a large mess, really. He broke up with her, but despite the fact that it wasn't either of our faults, our relationship has really never been the same. I think he fancied himself in love with her, and blames me for screwing it up," Klaus said bitterly, trying to keep his voice professional.

He didn't have any left over feelings for Tatia, but he did resent the way she'd come between him and Elijah. He looked up to see Caroline's lips pressed together. "Well, I'm glad I stepped in then. What a bitch. Oh, um, no offense."

He snorted. "None taken."

She smiled slightly. "And don't tell anyone I swore in the workplace," she said in a conspiratorial whisper.

He laughed and nodded, and made to get out but she laid a hand on his arm to stop him, though she looked a bit surprised at herself and withdrew it quickly. He shot her a questioning look and she smiled slightly.

"I know how it is. Well, not the whole significant-other-dating-your-brother thing. I don't have one of those. I just…" she sighed, pulling off her seatbelt and crossing her legs at the ankles. "When I first came to work for L'Oreal, I was there before I got hired as a marketing director at Bold, my boss was kind of an ass. He asked me out once, and I said no, and he just wouldn't get off my back. It was really awful. I wish that someone had stepped up for me, you know?"

Klaus frowned. "What happened? Surely he was fired?"

Caroline shook her head. "No, it doesn't work like that. I eventually filed a complaint, and nothing happened, so I applied for a job at Bold. Best decision I ever made, obviously."

He gave her a jerky nod, and she smiled slightly at him. He felt her gaze catch his, and he was suddenly very aware of how close they were. She seemed to realize it at the same moment, because she pulled back and grabbed the car handle, giving him an awkward smile. "Right, well. I have a meeting in about fifteen minutes, right?"

"Yes, Miss Forbes."

"I think after that conversation you can call me Caroline."

"All right, Caroline."

She nodded and walked in front of him, and he followed her to the elevators in the parking garage, trying not to stare at the sway of her hips.

**XXX**

Caroline could feel his eyes on her as they walked into the elevator, but strangely it didn't make her uncomfortable as it had when Damon had done it. She'd somehow become good friends with Stefan through that experience, and when he'd asked her out a few months before, she hadn't even had to think about the question too hard to say yes.

She wasn't getting any younger (even though she knew she shouldn't settle, because she was quite a catch if she did say so herself), and her work schedule was so hectic that it was nice to date someone who didn't mind.

Either way, it had ended badly, and it wasn't that she was after a new relationship (not that she wasn't over Stefan, because she'd been over him about two minutes into their first date, and had really only been hanging on out of sheer force of will), but having someone interested in her felt good.

Especially when it was Klaus.

She'd told Anna that she had no intention of getting into a relationship with Klaus, and she really didn't. Sure, he was incredibly attractive, funny, good at his job, and quite nice to her, but that didn't mean that dating him was a good idea. She often caught herself wishing that he didn't work at Bold, or at least not for her directly, just because she felt a pull to him.

She walked out of the elevator, her heels clicking on the tile floor of the office building, and went to her office to drop off her purse and ready her laptop bag for the meeting.

When she came out of her office, Klaus was already in the chair at the reception desk, the phone held to his ear as he told someone very firmly that no, he was quite sure that she didn't have time that day, and that unless someone had caused a very large catastrophe he had something open on Monday at three.

She began to walk out, but heard him hang up the phone and stopped suddenly, turning to look at him. "Do you mind if I call you by your first name?"

"Not at all," he said, looking rather surprised.

"Do you prefer Nik, Klaus, or Niklaus?" she asked, trying to keep her voice business-like.

"Klaus," he said, giving her a dimpled smile.

"Klaus," she repeated, fighting down a blush at the way his eyes darkened. "Okay. I'll see you in an hour or so."

He nodded and turned back to his computer.

**XXX**

Caroline's meeting had run over by fifteen minutes (so far), and Klaus was starting to worry that she would be late for her board meeting later. He wasn't about to go in and get her until she was in real danger of being late, but it wasn't looking good.

He set the timer on his phone to remind him to get her if she wasn't back in twenty minutes and was about to turn back to the computer when he saw an email in his inbox flagged as important.

_To: Niklaus Mikaelson  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Product design meeting_

_Come get me out of this meeting, please._

_I love your sister, but good lord that girl can talk._

_Sincerely,_

_Caroline Forbes_

–

_Chief Marketing Officer  
__Bold Inc.  
__575 5th Ave.  
__New York, NY_

He was glad he was alone as he was unable to suppress a laugh, and wrote a quick message back.

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__From: Niklaus Mikaelson  
__Subject: Re: Product design meeting_

_I'll be there in just a moment. _

_I'm glad someone does, because she certainly can make it difficult._

_\- Niklaus Mikaelson_

–

_Admin - Caroline Forbes (Chief Marketing Officer)  
__Bold Inc.  
__575 5th Ave.  
__New York, NY_

He put a fresh pot of coffee in so that it would be near ready when she got back, and a few moments later he knocked on the door to the conference room, and everyone turned to look at him, his sister included (who had apparently been working on her death glare). "Miss Forbes? You're needed in an urgent meeting."

"Of course, Klaus," she said before turning to the rest of the people in the room. "I have to go. I'll expect the proposals on my desk by Tuesday at the latest."

She gathered her folders and sped out the door, and he followed her back to her office.

"Rough meeting?" he asked, pouring coffee into a mug and adding some cream, some carefully measured hot chocolate powder, and a drop of peppermint extract, and stirring it before pressing it into her hands.

She raised an eyebrow. "Is this like, some sort of mad scientist coffee?"

He laughed quietly. "I'm not going to poison you. Just try it."

She gave him a suspicious look and raised the cup to her lips before closing her eyes and moaning softly. "How did you do this?"

He shrugged. "I got one of those disgusting mochas you like and tried to match the taste as closely as I could with that. Now I can make them here."

And he wouldn't have to go to Starbucks.

_And _it won him some definite points, if the way she was looking at him was anything to go by.

"They're not disgusting," she said almost absently, still studying him. "But thank you."

"Don't thank me. I did it for my own personal convenience."

She laughed. "Either way, thank you."

She took a sip and walked to her office, her skirt hugging her hips, and he averted his eyes, clearing his throat and turning back to his laptop. "Your meeting is in ten minutes. Is there anything you'd like me to do before then?"

_Like pushing your skirt up and taking you against the wall?_

"No. I don't think so," she said, draining her coffee in a few large gulps and handing it back to him. "Can you make me another one of those to take to the meeting?"

"Of course."

**XXX**

Caroline grimaced as she drained the last of her mug and got up to walk over to Klaus's desk. It had been two months since he had managed to create the nectar of the gods in her office coffee maker, and she was now absolutely sure that he'd created a monster. His brow was furrowed as his fingers flew across the keyboard, and she realized that he hadn't heard her come in. After waiting a few moments for him to notice her, she cracked.

"I need more coffee."

He started and looked up at her, his lips curling into a smirk. "Why am I not surprised?"

They'd fallen into an easy friendship, and she was starting to really like him (and to really be concerned that her 'like' for him seemed to be turning in a more romantic direction). She just gave him an unimpressed glare and set her coffee mug down before pressing on with her other reason for getting up.

"I want your opinion on something.'

"All right," he said slowly, giving her a reproachful look.

"Wait here," she said, walking back to her office and grabbing the rough prints of the pictures Tatia had taken for the campaign with the mock-up for the ad attached, and brought them back, putting them onto his desk.

"We need three words for a slogan," she said, pointing to the top where there were two stars separating three spaces. "Any ideas?"

He looked at her and back to the picture before his eyes moved back up to her.

"Strong, beautiful, bright," he said quietly.

She blushed, and he gave her a small smirk before pointedly turning back to his computer.

That was the moment when she knew that she liked Klaus Mikaelson.

**XXX**

_To: Bonnie Bennett  
__Cc: Katherine Pierce  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_BONNIE I HATE YOU THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT_

_-C_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__Cc: Bonnie Bennett  
__From: Katherine Pierce  
__Subject: Re: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_Do I want to know?_

_-K_

_To: Katherine Pierce  
__Cc: Bonnie Bennett  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Re: Re: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_OF COURSE YOU DO OR I WOULDN'T HAVE CC'D YOU._

_You know how I hired Bekah's brother as a favor? And how her entire family won the genetic lottery?_

_I think I'm screwed._

_-C_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__Cc: Katherine Pierce  
__From: Bonnie Bennett  
__Subject: Re[3]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_In a good way, I hope?_

_-B_

_To: Bonnie Bennett  
__Cc: Katherine Pierce  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Re[4]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_NO_

_-C_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__Cc: Bonnie Bennett  
__From: Katherine Pierce  
__Subject: Re[5]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_That sounds like a personal problem._

_You should get that checked out._

_-K_

_To: Katherine Pierce  
__Cc: Caroline Forbes  
__From: Bonnie Bennett  
__Subject: Re[6]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_It's called a Klaus._

_-B_

_To: Bonnie Bennett  
__Cc: Katherine Pierce  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Re[7]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_Not funny._

_-C_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__Cc: Bonnie Bennett  
__From: Katherine Pierce  
__Subject: Re[8]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_I laughed._

_-K_

_To: Katherine Pierce  
__Cc: Bonnie Bennett  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Re[9]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_You have a shit sense of humor._

_-C_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__Cc: Bonnie Bennett  
__From: Katherine Pierce  
__Subject: Re[10]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_You know what would cheer you up?_

_-K_

_To: Katherine Pierce  
__Cc: Caroline Forbes  
__From: Bonnie Bennett  
__Subject: Re[11]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_...A Klaus?_

_-B_

_To: Bonnie Bennett  
__Cc: Katherine Pierce  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Re[12]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_I hate you both._

_-C_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__Cc: Katherine Pierce  
__From: Bonnie Bennett  
__Subject: Re[13]: CODE RED! ABORT!_

_My work here is done._

_-B_

**XXX**

"I'm sorry, she has a meeting then," Klaus said to the man on the other end of the line, trying to keep the smugness out of his tone.

The man sighed long-sufferingly. "All right. How about the Friday after next at four?"

Klaus clicked back and forth through the pages of the calendar boredly just to make noise, not even bothering to look at what he was sure would be a blank space. "Sorry, booked then as well."

"She can't possibly be."

"Sorry mate, nothing I can do."

"Fine. Tell her to call me when she has a minute," Stefan grumbled.

"Will do. Thank you for calling," Klaus said, his voice dripping with false sincerity before he hung up.

"Who was that?" Caroline asked, poking her head out of her office.

"Stefan. He wants you to call him as soon as possible."

Caroline snorted. "Of course he does."

"Your Mum called as well. She wants to have lunch on Wednesday. I scheduled her in. Is that all right?"

"Yeah. That's fine, thanks."

He nodded and turned back to the computer, filtering through emails.

He heard Caroline's soft sigh from behind him, and turned to see her walking shoeless towards the coffee maker, her brightly colored toenails wriggling against the carpet.

"Everything all right?"

"Yes. Just tired."

He nodded. "I can imagine."

"There's just been a lot going on," she continued, pouring herself some coffee and measuring out a tablespoon of hot chocolate mix and the exact amount of cream and peppermint he'd showed her before stowing it back in the fridge and drinking from her mug, setting it back down on the desk so that she could wave her hands as she ranted. "I have to finish the last drafts for this campaign, and your sister won't leave me alone about the colors for _next _season. I love her to death, but she's _so _intense-please don't tell her I said that."

"Wouldn't dream of it, love," he said without thinking at the term of endearment.

She froze, looking over at him with wide, surprised eyes, and he resisted the urge to wince. "Sorry. I didn't mean–"

He'd always been able to tell that she was an easy blusher, and she was doing quite well at fighting it down from what he could tell. "It's fine. Slip of the tongue," she said, giving him a small smile. "It happens to everyone."

She excused herself to her office without another word, forgetting her coffee mug on his desk, the door closing softly behind her, and he could have sworn he heard her mutter a low _fuck_.

That was the moment when he knew for sure that Caroline Forbes liked him just as much as he liked her.

**XXX**

Caroline ran a hand through her hair, distractedly, trying to figure out what to do. He clearly liked her, and she liked him, and this _was not supposed to happen._

She knew that he'd be looking for another job soon, and she couldn't date him until he did. She tried to remember the conversations they'd had over the past five months about what he wanted to do, and she couldn't remember.

She bit her lip, trying to come up with a plan.

Regardless of whether they ended up dating or not, he needed to go soon. She valued her beliefs that co-workers should not date, especially if there was a large imbalance of power, and she intended to stick to that.

_To: Rebekah Mikaelson  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject Your Brother_

_Hey Bekah,_

_Has Klaus ever said what he was hoping to do after he left Bold?_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__From: Rebekah Mikaelson  
__Subject: Re: Your Brother_

_We were focusing more on getting him a job to start with before branching out to having a job his little sister didn't have to bribe her friend for. _

_Baby steps. You know._

_To: Rebekah Mikaelson  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject Re: Re: Your Brother_

_Okay. Say I'm willing to write him a glowing recommendation letter to anywhere he wants._

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__From: Rebekah Mikaelson  
__Subject: Re[3]: Your Brother_

_To be honest, I'd probably just try to get him transferred to work with Alaric. _

_To: Rebekah Mikaelson  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Re[4]: Your Brother_

_You're a genius. Thanks Bekah_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__From: Rebekah Mikaelson  
__Subject: Re[5]: Your Brother_

_I do try._

**XXX**

_To: Camille O'Connell  
__From: Caroline Forbes  
__Subject: Job Opening_

_Camille,_

_I'd like to get a meeting with Alaric at some point in the next week to talk about a possible transfer for my admin, Klaus Mikaelson, to replace Grayson now that he's retired. _

_Could you give him a call to set something up?_

_Thank you._

_Sincerely,_

_Caroline Forbes_

–

_Chief Marketing Officer  
__Bold Inc.  
__575 5th Ave.  
__New York, NY_

_To: Caroline Forbes  
__From: Camille O'Connell  
__Subject: Re: Job Opening_

_Dear Caroline,_

_Of course. I'll do that as soon as I can._

_Thank you!_

_-Camille O'Connell_

–

_Admin - Alaric Saltzman (Chief Financial Officer)  
__Bold Inc.  
__575 5th Ave.  
__New York, NY_

Klaus frowned, rereading the email that had just come into Caroline's inbox. Why was she trying to transfer him? Had he offended her? What if he'd been wrong and she didn't like him?

He heard Caroline's office door open, and he realized that she had a meeting in ten minutes he'd forgotten to remind her of.

"Sorry, Miss Forbes," he said stiffly. "I forgot to remind you. You've a meeting in about five minutes."

She seemed a bit taken aback by his formal address, but her face cleared quickly. "I know, Klaus. Thanks."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! How are the emails going for everyone? Do we still like them? Is the sexual tension good? Do we like how their relationship is building? How are we feeling about the plot? Any predictions?  
Let me know what you think! :)  
****This story is not super angsty. Don't worry, they'll get their shit together pretty quickly.**

**Hugs!  
-Angie**


	4. Promotion

**A/N: Thanks so much for the feedback to the last chapter! Previously, Hayley was the other applicant for the admin position in chapter one. This has been changed, and now Liv was that applicant. We still will never see her 'on-screen' so to speak.  
Thank you to Wifey, D, and Sophie for beta work!  
Enjoy!  
-Angie**

* * *

She was so confused. He'd called her Miss Forbes after she'd expressly asked him to call her Caroline, and he seemed formal.

What if he didn't like her? She'd been pretty obvious when she'd made her escape.

Or, she realized, he could have misread it and thought that she didn't like him.

She couldn't say anything to him until he was transferred to the other department. What if she missed her chance? She would think about it more when she got out of her meeting, she decided. Right now, she needed to stay focused.

She walked down the hall to the conference room and took her seat on one of the squishy office chairs near the front next to Rebekah. Bonnie stood in front of the large screen, a remote in her hand, waiting for everyone to arrive.

Caroline shifted in her seat as her friend went through the presentation, highlighting the colors and concepts for the next season. She let herself get absorbed in work to distract herself from her thoughts. When she walked out of the conference room an hour later, she nearly knocked right into Klaus. He reached out to grab her shoulder, steadying her, before jerking his hand back as though realizing the movement he'd made.

"There's been an urgent call from the legal department," he said quietly. "I've cancelled your five o'clock."

"Okay. What happened?" she asked slowly.

He winced. "Do you know who Hayley Marshall is?"

"Do you mean the model who's the face of our campaign next season?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as he shifted uncomfortably.

Whatever had happened, it couldn't have been good.

He motioned for her to follow him as he led her to the conference room, her heels clicking on the floor as they walked. "Right, well, apparently she's done something unfortunate–"

"Unfortunate _how_?" Caroline pressed, her anxiety growing with every second. "Spit it out, Klaus, the sooner I know about it the sooner I can take care of it."

"She said something incredibly racist on social media, and Jo wants your opinion on whether we should drop her, but I think she's leaning firmly towards yes."

Caroline let out a harsh breath. Jo, the head of legal, was probably correct. Depending on how damaging the comment was, they would have to drop their endorsement campaign and cut all ties with her. When she arrived, instructing Klaus to tell anyone who called that she was unavailable until further notice before he left, Jo and Alaric were already in the conference room. "Where's Meredith? Can we start without her?"

The CEO was probably tied up, she knew, but they needed to get out a statement as soon as possible.

Jo nodded. "Her contract gives us the loophole to drop her without warning because of the public scandal, so we should be fine with that. We'll still have to pay the settlement attached to it."

"I think that we can take the financial hit without much repercussion," Alaric said, going through the folder in front of him.

"We just had the ads all done, and we were all set to send them out," Caroline said frustratedly. "We're going to have to have another model audition and do another photoshoot. Ugh. This is a disaster."

Alaric gave her a sympathetic look. "We just need to clear this up before it snowballs."

"I'll get a statement out, and I'll need to put out another casting call for models as soon as possible. We'll need to get the new ads in by the end of the week. Do you _still _think we can handle the financial hit?" she asked Alaric irritably, wincing when she realized what her tone sounded like. "Sorry."

"Yeah. We should be able to, especially if we go with someone undiscovered."

Caroline snorted. "Anyone know a girl with large eyes that would look good with bright blue eyeliner available in the next three days?"

"Camille?" Alaric joked.

"She's not tall enough," Caroline said absently, not noticing when Alaric and Jo exchanged exasperated glances.

"Go do damage control, Care. Keep us posted," Alaric said, gently steering her towards the door while her mind worked a mile a minute.

**XXX**

Klaus was tired. It had been two days since the Hayley incident, and they were still doing major damage control. It was ten at night, and Caroline was still at the office. She'd requested that he stay late with her, and he'd accepted, knowing he'd be paid double for late time (and not having anything to do anyway), but was starting to regret that decision.

Caroline walked out of her office door, and she looked less put together than he'd ever seen her (although really, her 'messy' was everyone else's 'neat'). She dropped a stack of photos with potential models on the desk. "I need you to look through these and pick three. I haven't sorted any or looked through them, so everyone's in there. The top one is a picture of Hayley. I need you to find someone who's relatively close to her in looks and height. Different skin tone is fine, but she needs to have brown eyes, darker brown hair, and be between five-foot-eight and five-foot-eleven. Similar facial structure too."

He nodded and took the photos, setting the top one aside and starting to flip through them.

"And also can you grab coffee for me?"

He nodded. "Of course, Miss Forbes."

"Caroline," she corrected tiredly.

He nodded but didn't respond, already up to make a new pot of coffee. He also called a local take-out place and ordered food for both of them, thankful that the place wasn't closed yet.

After the delivery person came, he carefully poured her a bowl of sesame chicken and knocked on the door gently with his foot, setting the coffee and dinner on her desk.

"Thank you."

He nodded.

It was an awkward few seconds as Caroline looked at him. "You saw the email," she stated, no question in her voice.

Her words took him off guard, but he nodded. "Yes."

**XXX**

She could see that he was about to leave, and she gestured to the chair in front of her desk. He sat down warily.

She smiled at him, but he looked like he wanted to bolt. "Look, I knew when I interviewed you that you wouldn't want to stick around long because you're overqualified. Rebekah told me you were looking for another job, and I'd be happy to write you a recommendation if you want one. In any case, I'm planning on talking to Alaric and having you transferred to be project manager for the Financial Acquisitions department, which basically involves–"

"I know what that is, Caroline," he said, slipping on her name, which made her smile at him.

"You are completely qualified for that position," she said.

"I know."

"Right, okay. Well, obviously you get the final say, but there's a substantial pay raise, and it's an excellent opportunity. If you don't want it, though, you can cancel the meeting with Alaric."

"I'd like to do it," he said, though he didn't sound as happy as she'd expected him to be. "Although I do have a question."

"What?"

"Did I do something to make you transfer me? I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," he asked cautiously.

"You didn't make me uncomfortable," Caroline said, before smiling slightly.

She got up, and he followed suit, though he paused at the door. "Assuming I get the position, when would I start?"

"If you want it, you'll get it. And you'd start as soon as I can find an admin. I think you've spoiled me, to be honest. I don't know how I lived without you. And your coffee."

He laughed quietly, but nodded, and turned to leave again.

"Wait," she said impulsively, walking towards him.

He paused and turned back to face her.

"I didn't transfer you because you did something wrong, Klaus. I just don't want to have a conflict of interest."

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly, though she had a feeling he knew exactly what she meant, judging by the dimpled smile spreading across his face.

They were nose to nose now, and she reached up slowly to cup his cheek, her thumb stroking over the skin, laying her other hand on his shoulder. "Is this okay?" she asked quietly, her gaze flicking from his eyes to his mouth and back.

He answered her by slotting his lips against hers.

She moaned quietly, winding her fingers in his hair, and his palms landed on her waist. She smiled into the kiss, biting his lip softly and pulling back. "I'll talk to him as soon as you set up a meeting," she said, trying to ignore the tiny voice in her head screaming at her for breaking her self-enforced boundaries.

"I'll do it as soon as I can."

She pushed away from him. "Sorry. I shouldn't have...I like you, but we can't do this now."

He pulled her back to him, melding his lips to hers.

"Conflict of interest," she said between kisses.

"I quit," he mumbled, fusing his lips to hers, swallowing the giggle that bubbled up in her throat.

"You can't quit on me now," she said quietly, sighing as he kissed her neck. "I need you to pick out the model. And manage everything until I hire someone else."

"I have three model options on my desk that you can pick from. Your appointments tomorrow morning aren't urgent and I've moved them all so that you can sleep in a little bit," he mumbled against her skin. "I'll send Camille an email as soon as possible asking for her to move the meeting with Alaric up once we get this mess sorted out."

She moaned softly as he flicked his tongue against the hollow of her neck, her fingers twisting into the lapels of his suit jacket. "Okay. I still need to finish up everything tonight with this...bullshit disaster."

He nodded, pulling away.

"Let me know if you need anything," he said, his voice casual, but somehow dripping with innuendo.

"I might later."

He smirked and left, closing her office door behind him, and Caroline sunk down in her seat, wondering how she'd possibly get any work done now.

**XXX**

"So, wait, I don't understand, Caroline. You want me to take your _admin _on as a consultant?"

Caroline sighed as she sipped the coffee Camille had provided, putting it on the coaster on Alaric's desk.

"He's been a consultant for Mikaelson Corp over in the UK. He has the experience."

"So then why was he an admin?"

"He was looking for a job to pay the bills while he applied to other companies. He's Rebekah's brother; do you know Rebekah Mikaelson from Product Design? Right, so he's her brother, and I hired him as a favor to her. He's competent and catches on quickly. I think he'd be a good fit."

"If he's so good, why are you trying to get rid of him?" Alaric asked, eyebrow raised.

Caroline was quiet for a minute, shifting uncomfortably. Alaric had taken a chance on her when she'd applied to the company. She'd been inexperienced, but eager to learn and pick up what advice others could give. Alaric was about twenty years older than her, and he had become sort-of a mentor to her in some ways, and they'd become good friends out of the workplace.

He could always tell when she wasn't being entirely truthful.

"Really, Caroline?" Alaric asked exasperatedly.

"What?"

"Look, I know you've been having a hard time, and really everyone knew that thing with Stefan was doomed before it began, but you know that you can't push him towards me because you want a relationship. You're smarter than that."

"You know that I wouldn't be asking for this if he wasn't qualified and good for the job," Caroline said seriously. "I promise that if I thought he wasn't fit for it I'd try to get him moved to a different department."

Alaric stared at her, and she held his gaze unflinchingly.

"Fine. I trust you. It'll be a trial period first, though."

"I know. Thanks for taking a chance."

"Well, it worked out the last time," Alaric said, smiling slightly before turning back to his work.

**XXX**

It was her first date with Klaus-he said that wherever they were going was a surprise, but that she should dress casually-and she couldn't help but feel a little excited. She knew it was silly, since they'd worked in close quarters for almost the last year, but it was different now. Less formal, but with higher stakes.

She'd just hired a new admin named Davina, and Klaus had spent the last week training her. The day before, he'd finally officially accepted the promotion, and he would start on Monday.

She turned to the side, inspecting her profile one more time. The jeans were tight around her legs, and despite the fact that her white shirt was draped and reasonably loose, it was still rather low cut. She debated changing into a dress, but she liked wearing pants when she could since almost all of her work clothes were dresses and skirts.

She heard a knock on her door and she swore, pushing her earrings through her ears and stuffing her feet into her flats quickly, grabbing a jacket on the way to the door and opening it. Klaus stood there in a Henley and jeans (more casually dressed than she'd ever seen him), and she grabbed her purse from the hook next to the door, following him out of the apartment to the car.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises," she said, smiling slightly when he offered her his arm, and taking it.

"I know," he said, smirking. "I think you'll like this, though."

"Okay."

He held the passenger side door open for her, and she shook her head, smiling as she slid in. "You're pulling out your old-world manners today, I see," she said as he got into the driver's seat.

"For you, I'd pull them out every day."

She laughed. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"I know. Do I have to have an ulterior motive for complimenting you?"

"No," she said, giving him a small smile. "It's just surprising, is all."

"Well, there you are. Sometimes surprises can be good."

She laughed and he gave her a small smile before starting to drive downtown. When they pulled up in front of a mini-golf place, Caroline turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugged. "We can get pizza and then play."

"Okay, but just so you know, I'm horrible at mini-golf. You'll probably beat me."

He laughed. "That was the point. Not that I'd beat you, love, but I'm also terrible at it. Rebekah suggested it."

"Okay, well, bring it on. Pizza first though. I'm starving."

**XXX**

They were seated quickly at the pizza restaurant connected to the mini-golf place, and they both ordered small pizzas.

"So are you excited to start the new job?"

He nodded. "I am, but can we not talk about work?"

She blushed. "Sorry, it's just–-"

"Basically your life, I know," he said, though his voice was kind, and he was grinning at her.

"Yeah. Well, what do you want to talk about?"

He shrugged. "You."

She snorted. "Okay. Fine. What do you want to know? There really isn't much to tell."

"Try me."

"Okay. Um, well I grew up in a small town in Virginia. Everyone knew everyone. It was exhausting. Bonnie and I grew up together, actually."

"Does that mean I could grill her for more potential date ideas?"

Caroline laughed. "Probably. She's been trying to convince me to ask you out for months."

The _I know_ was on the tip of his tongue, but he pushed it back. He needed to tell her that he'd looked at her personal email (it was only _once_, though, not that that made it any better, but it could have been worse), and he needed to do it soon. It would be so much worse if she found out on her own.

He'd tell her. Soon.

Just not now.

They talked more about their childhoods as they finished their pizza, and Klaus was already inwardly making a list of potential date ideas to pitch at Bonnie and Rebekah. He managed to get his credit card into the tray without her noticing until he signed the check, and she glared at him. "I'm paying for the golf stuff then."

"All right, love."

Mini-golf was a spectacular failure, as he'd expected (in terms of skill, at least). They had a lot of fun trash-talking each other, and when he got the ball through the windmill on the first try, she teasingly told him that he should come help her make the shot.

He knew an opportunity when he saw one, and pressed himself up behind her, smiling against her hair as the warmth of her curves pressed against his front. He wrapped his arms around her and held her hands against the golf club. "This is going to be a catastrophe. That shot was luck," he said, his voice low in her ear.

She shivered, and he smiled slightly, raking his teeth across her earlobe while he positioned the shot and guided her hand to take it.

She moaned at the feel of his teeth against her skin and turned in his arms to capture his lips with hers, her tongue pushing into his mouth.

He slid his hands into the back pockets of her jeans, pulling her to press against him, and it was only at a discreet cough from a woman near them who was gesturing pointedly at two children next to her that made Klaus and Caroline break apart.

Caroline was blushing furiously, her face buried in his shoulder, and he mouthed an apology to the woman, who just rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face.

"Did it go in?" Caroline asked, turning to the windmill.

"Does it matter?"

"No, not really," she said, grinning. "Let's head back to my place?"

**XXX**

He pushed her up against her front door, his hands tugging down the zipper to her jacket, and she shrugged it off, letting it fall to the floor before kicking off her flats and pushing herself up slightly to wrap her legs around his waist, Klaus supporting her with his palms cupping her ass as he licked and nipped at the column of her neck.

She moaned loudly, and he smiled against her skin, scraping his teeth lightly across her collarbone.

"Bedroom's on the right," she panted out before her lips were back on his.

He carried her easily to her bedroom, dropping her on the bed and crawling on top of her. She tugged his Henley over his head and pulled her own shirt off before grabbing his necklaces and pulling him down to meld her lips back to his.

He ground the bulge in his jeans against her covered core, and she moaned, reaching down to undo his belt and tug his jeans off. He smiled against her mouth and pulled back to stand off the bee so that he could undress.

She felt his heated gaze on her as she reached back to undo the clasp of her bra, letting it fall to the carpeted floor, and took a bit longer than was strictly needed to trail her hand down her stomach to the button of her jeans, undoing them and arching her back to slide them down her hips and legs.

She was wet just from knowing that he was watching her strip for him, and she turned to look at him, completely nude, to see that he was already walking towards her, also completely naked, his cock hard for her.

He climbed on top of her, and she moaned as the tip of him brushed against her folds. She reached down to wrap her hand around him, stroking him a few times, making him swear under his breath and drop his head against her shoulder. She positioned him at her entrance and he pushed in.

They both moaned loudly as he filled her, and she wrapped her legs around him to pull him even deeper. "Move," she breathed.

He obliged, and she rolled her hips to match his harsh thrusts, panting out his name with pleas for him to go faster and harder, and he increased his pace, his cock slamming inside of her so _perfectly_ as she moaned his name.

Her breath hitched as he bit her softly on the neck, his teeth scraping down her skin. "Do you like that, sweetheart?" he mumbled, sucking on the curve of her collarbone.

"Yes," she hissed, tipping her head to the side to allow him better access, moaning.

His hands were stroking her hips while her fingernails raked down his back as he fucked her hard, and she felt herself getting close. The movement of her hips became frantic and frenzied, and he sped up his thrusts to match the new pace, seeming to sense what she needed.

She clenched around him, moaning his name loudly, and he followed a few moments later. He slumped on top of her, not uncomfortably at all, and she rolled them to the side to snuggle into him, their legs entangled over the sheets.

"Stay the night?" she asked before fully processing the words coming out of her mouth.

He just smiled. "Of course, love."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope everyone liked the chapter. How are we feeling about Klaus's lack of honesty? Do we think Caroline will find out? How do we feel about Klaus's date choice? Did we like the smut? Any predictions?  
We're in the home stretch. There are probably only one or two more chapters left. :)**

**Quick note: Caroline has two emails. One is her personal email and the other is her work email. Klaus is allowed to (and should) go through her work email because that's his job. He shouldn't have access to her personal email. If you have more questions about the fic, I encourage you to follow or look me up on tumblr, which is thetourguidebarbie. I'm also on twitter at AngieWritesKC (though I'm not on it often at all).**

**Hugs!  
-Angie**


	5. Confessions

**A/N: Thank you to D, Sophie, &amp; Wifey for beta work.  
Enjoy!**  
**-Angie**

* * *

Caroline sighed as she turned back and forth, looking at herself in the mirror. It was seven in the morning, and she was just making sure that the dress fit before she put on her work clothes and left.

She and Klaus were going on their third month of officially being together, and she'd had to cancel their date the Friday before, but had told him that they could probably go out that night.

He'd offered to take her right after work, but she'd refused, wanting to change, and he had rolled his eyes and pointed out that he'd seen most of her clothes already due to three incidents of coffee spillage and one accidental sushi disaster (her blazer still smelled like wasabi and it had been _months_), and then added that he wanted to see "the blue dress" on her.

She had six different blue dresses, but she remembered that the first time he'd gotten a new outfit for her, there had been a blue dress on a hanger sticking out slightly as though he'd pulled it out to look at it.

Satisfied with the fit, she stripped and laid out the dress carefully on the bed before pulling on her work clothes and heading out, smiling at Davina when she walked into the office.

It was going to be a long day.

**XXX**

_To: Caroline Forbes_

_From: Niklaus Mikaelson_

_Subject: Meeting tonight_

_Is six all right?_

_-Niklaus Mikaelson_

—

_Project Manager - Financial Acquisitions_

_Bold Inc._

_575 5th Ave._

_New York, NY_

_To: Niklaus Mikaelson_

_From: Caroline Forbes_

_Subject: Re: Meeting tonight_

_Of course._

_In the future, if you're going to use my work email for personal reasons, you should contact my admin ;)_

_Sincerely,_

_Caroline Forbes_

–

_Chief Marketing Officer_

_Bold Inc._

_575 5th Ave._

_New York, NY_

_To: Caroline Forbes_

_From: Niklaus Mikaelson_

_Subject: Re: Re: Meeting tonight_

_She can see your personal email too. Or, at least, I could when I was your admin._

_-Niklaus Mikaelson_

—

_Project Manager - Financial Acquisitions_

_Bold Inc._

_575 5th Ave._

_New York, NY_

_To: Niklaus Mikaelson_

_From: Caroline Forbes_

_Subject: Re[3]: Meeting tonight_

_SERIOUSLY?_

_Sincerely,_

_Caroline Forbes_

–

_Chief Marketing Officer_

_Bold Inc._

_575 5th Ave._

_New York, NY_

_To: Caroline Forbes_

_From: Niklaus Mikaelson_

_Subject: Re[4]: Meeting tonight._

_Yes. Seriously._

_-Niklaus Mikaelson_

—

_Project Manager - Financial Acquisitions_

_Bold Inc._

_575 5th Ave._

_New York, NY_

Klaus sent the email and looked at the ceiling, counting to ten, and smirked when he heard the clicking of Caroline's heels on the floor outside, and his door burst open.

"Caroline," he greeted calmly.

"Did you seriously go through my personal email?"

"All I said was that it was possible to see it."

She narrowed her eyes.

"But yes. Sorry, love. It was only once, though."

"That's a huge invasion of privacy," she growled.

"I know. I'm sorry. It really was mostly an accident," he said, bringing out the sad apology eyes. "I saw my name and got curious."

"That's not an accident. That's you being curious," she said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," he said again, standing and grabbing one of her hands, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

She huffed. "I'll make it up to you tonight," he promised. "No vanilla allowed. I'm not Stefan."

She flushed bright red. "Oh my god, you read that?"

He smirked. "Out of curiosity, what kind of roleplaying do you like?"

She smacked him lightly in the chest, her face still rather resembling a tomato, and shook her head, refusing to answer.

He rested his hands on her hips, pulling her against him, and bent to whisper in her ear. "I'd be happy to apologize at length. Although there won't be much talking, I'm afraid. My tongue will most likely be busy in other places."

Her breath caught, and he smirked, tugging on her earlobe with his teeth, making her moan. "Or perhaps you'd rather that we didn't wait, and that I shoved my papers aside and laid you over my desk right here, right now. That I knelt with my face between your thighs, your legs spread wide for me as you bit your hand to keep from screaming my name."

She swore softly, her hands winding into his suit jacket. "Tonight," she gasped out, swallowing down another moan as he licked the shell of her ear. "We're not doing this here."

"I believe that we currently are."

She laughed quietly and pushed him away. He acquiesced, giving her a long-suffering sigh as he pulled back, and she pecked him on the lips before completely disentangling herself. "I'm changing the meeting time. Come to my office as soon as you're done for the day. Don't make me wait too long," she said, patting his chest lightly before leaving, her hips swaying exaggeratedly in her tight pencil skirt.

His cock twitched and he glanced at the clock, groaning when he realized he had another four hours before he was off.

He sat down on the desk, and opened his laptop again, trying very hard to concentrate.

**XXX**

"Davina, could you please stop by my place and grab the dress on the bed? And my beige heels? They should be on the floor," Caroline instructed as she walked past Davina's desk.

"Of course, Caroline."

"Thanks."

Caroline hummed to herself as she bent over her desk, finishing up some last minute work and deciding the rest could wait for tomorrow. She closed her laptop and grabbed her make-up bag, redrawing her eyeliner and fluffing her curls. She opened the door when Davina knocked, thanking her for the dress and telling her she could go home.

Davina seemed to know better that to ask questions, but she did give Caroline a slightly amused look over her shoulder as she left.

Caroline closed her office door and locked it, sliding off her pencil skirt and blouse, thankful that she'd thought to wear some of her nicer lingerie so that she wouldn't have to bother changing later, and pulled on the dress. Her phone chimed.

_To: Caroline Forbes_

_From: Klaus Mikaelson_

_Subject: (no subject)_

_I'll be there in ten minutes._

— _Klaus_

_To: Klaus Mikaelson_

_From: Caroline Forbes_

_Subject: Re: (no subject)_

_Good._

— _C_

She went to check her reflection in the restroom one last time before clearing off her desk and leaving her door slightly open, moving to stand by the window, looking at the streets below.

She waited until she heard the creak of the door to the hallway opening and closing before turning to see Klaus walking into her office, closing the door behind him.

"You look lovely," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking to her, something she took as a sign of nervousness.

"Thank you," she said primly, sitting on the edge of her desk and crossing her legs at the knee, letting the dress expose a good deal of her upper thigh.

"I really am sorry, love."

"I feel lied to."

"I know. You trusted me, and_—"_

"I was told that you would be apologizing with your tongue, not your vocal chords," she said, a teasing smirk playing around her lips.

His lips twitched. "I do recall saying something to that effect."

"It's not nice to lie, Klaus."

"I suppose it's not," he agreed, walking over to place his palms flat on the desk on either side of her, invading her space, his breath hot on her lips.

She looped her arms around his shoulders and pulled his lips to hers, nibbling on his bottom lip and swiping her tongue over it, making him groan. His hands found her hips, and she tugged softly at his curls before pulling his suit jacket away, tossing it to the side, and pulling back.

His lips were slightly swollen and his eyes were dark, and his gaze made a burning heat crawl up her body, and she bit her lip, uncrossing her legs and spreading them slightly. "I want you on your knees in front of me," she said, her voice quiet but firm.

He knelt, wrapping his hands around the backs of her calves, pulling her to the edge of the desk, before bunching the fabric up around her hips, kissing the inside of her knee lightly and looking up at her while he carefully pulled her lace thong down her legs and set it on the floor before placing hot, open-mouthed kisses up her inner thigh to her pussy.

Her fingers wound their way through her hair as she pressed his face encouragingly towards her center, and he swiped his tongue over her slit, making her moan, her hips jerking towards him. He smirked, pressing her legs further apart before letting his tongue run over her slick skin.

She moaned his name softly, pressing him more firmly towards her. "Yes," she hissed. "Just like that, Klaus. Your tongue feels so good against me…"

She let go of his hair to wrap her hands around the table, and his tongue slowed. "Now, don't get lazy on me. Your job right now is to lick my pussy until I come around your tongue, Klaus. Be a good boy," she panted, rocking her hips against his mouth.

He obligingly returned to his previous pace, moving his hand to her center and pushing two fingers inside her, pumping them in time with his tongue on her clit, and she moaned more loudly, though his strokes were still a bit too slow. She tangled her hand in his hair again. "Harder," she ordered, her voice sharp. "Don't make me tell you agai_—fuck, _yes, just like that."

She rolled her hips against his mouth, tugging his hair lightly, making him moan against her as he lapped up her juices, speeding up the strokes of his fingers until she was panting out his name as she came, holding him to her core until she'd ridden out her orgasm against his face before letting go, allowing him to pull back.

He licked his lips, his eyes dark as he looked at her, and she knew that her face was flushed from pleasure. "Get up," she ordered, slipping off the desk.

He got to his feet, and her hands moved to the buttons of his shirt, undoing them nimbly with her fingers before helping him shrug it off, her hands going to the button of his slacks, pausing to rub the prominent bulge with the palm of her hand, making him buck against her.

She freed his erection, stroking him a few times before turning around, bracing her hands on her desk. "Make me come again."

His lips were on her neck from behind as she felt his cock brush against her folds, and he pressed against her back gently to bend her over, both of them groaning quietly as he pushed inside her to the hilt. She clenched around him, swearing softly. "Move," she growled, pushing back against him, and he gripped her hips, pulling back and thrusting into her again.

Their coupling was frenzied and rough, his balls slapping against her skin as he fucked her, making her moan. He adjusted his angle slightly to hit her g-spot with every thrust, and she writhed against him, her moans growing louder with every movement.

She panted out his name as she came again, clenching around him, and he continued pounding into her through her orgasm before coming himself.

Both of them were breathing raggedly when he pulled away, and she straightened her dress, smoothing it around her hips, before turning back to him, placing a soft kiss to his lips and cupping his face in her hands.

He re-fastened his trousers and bent to pull his shirt off the floor while she unabashedly stared at the muscles of his chest and arms.

"Am I forgiven?" he asked, buttoning up his shirt.

"I suppose," she said teasingly, re-straightening his collar, making him grin, before kissing him again quickly and grabbing a small mirror out of her bottom drawer, putting her hair up in a bun to hide the mess.

"Are we going to dinner?"

She hummed an affirmative, smoothing her dress again and grabbing her purse.

**XXX**

"Caroline?" Davina asked, knocking on her door.

"Come in."

"I just picked this up from the locksmith for you."

"Thank you, Davina. Go ahead and set it over there."

Davina did so before leaving again, and Caroline heard the keyboard clicking away a moment later. She bit her lip, staring at the offending key, now sitting on the corner of her desk, and tried to quell the nervousness building in her gut.

It had been ten months, and she felt like she was ready for that next step. Klaus had settled into his job very quickly, and she was still as busy as ever. She'd rationalized that living together, or at least him having a spare key, would give them more time together, though she knew it was a bit of a stretch. She decided that she'd ask him that night during their date.

She worked through the next five hours, thankful when she'd finished her work for the day and could leave. She locked up behind her, checking her email one last time as she left, before heading to Klaus's office.

He was just leaving as well, and he gave her a dimpled smile and a kiss as he locked up, grabbing her hand. They walked to the front of the building together and down the street to a nearby restaurant. Caroline was hyper-aware of the key in her purse, and she felt like bolting. She loved Klaus, she knew she did, and she was sure that he loved her (though neither of them had ever said it). She wasn't worried about rejection. She just knew that moving in together, or even just giving him the spare key, was a huge step. So many couples broke up because of being unable to tolerate living in close quarters, and she had no interest in being on that end of the statistic.

"Are you all right, love? You seem nervous," he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she said, squeezing his hand.

"If you're going to break up with me, I'd rather not spend sixty dollars on dinner first," he said teasingly, though there was a note of anxiety in his voice.

"What? No! No, I'm not breaking up with you," she said, biting her lip. "I just…"

He shot her a slightly amused look. "You just?"

"Move in with me," she blurted before she could stop herself, before wanting to facepalm.

Why was it that she could be perfectly calm and collected in business meetings and terrify incompetent interns with a simple look, but be completely unable to rein in her impulses around her boyfriend?

"All right," he said, not even pausing in his footsteps.

"All_—_all right?"

"Did you expect me to say no?" he asked, looking genuinely confused.

"No, I just...that was a very fast answer."

"You weren't the only one thinking about it," he said simply, squeezing her hand, still completely at ease.

She gave him a huge smile, and he returned it. "Would you like to get take-out instead?" he asked.

"Sure. Why?"

"I'm impatient."

Her lips twitched. "For?"

"Taking you against the wall of our apartment."

"Which one do you think is our apartment?" she asked, side-eyeing him, a small smile playing on her face.

"Considering that you got me a key to what used to be your apartment, I should think it would be obvious."

"How did you know?" she asked.

"I bumped into Davina when she was leaving. There are only so many reasons you could be sending her to the locksmith with your apartment key."

"It might not have been for you. Maybe I wanted an extra."

His lips twitched. "I'm fairly certain that you already have an extra, and that it is in the possession of Bonnie Bennett in case of emergencies."

She sighed. "You know me too well."

"On the contrary, love, I happen to be learning more interesting things about you every day."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"And that was one of the first things I learned about you," he said dryly.

**XXX**

Caroline groaned, rolling over in bed. Klaus's absence was noticeable, his side of the bed completely cold, and it took a moment before she registered what had woken her up.

The night before had been a late one at the office, and she was glad it was Saturday, because she had less to do and could work from home. She was therefore not at all pleased to be woken up by Klaus's music at eight in the morning.

She swung herself out of bed, grumbling to herself about morning people (a group to which she most definitely did not belong), and pulled on her bathrobe. Yawning, she padded to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, smiling slightly when she saw that Klaus had left a mug on the counter in the warming device.

Sipping contentedly, she walked to the other room, intending to tell him to turn his music down (though her anger had been suppressed somewhat by the thoughtful coffee-making, something she was half-certain he'd done on purpose).

As she'd expected, he was at his easel in the corner of the room they'd set off for his art, dressed only in a pair of pajama pants, his brow furrowed, the stereo on next to him.

"Good morning, love."

"Turn it down," she said, her voice still scratchy from sleep.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, reaching for the dial. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine until I was woken up by whoever-that-was."

"Bruce Springsteen?"

"God, you're old," she joked, walking over and kissing him quickly.

"The Boss is timeless," he said, his lips twitching. "And I'm only a year older than you."

She hummed in agreement, sitting on the couch with her legs crossed, staring at the Christmas tree in the corner, which they'd spent the night before decorating.

Christmas, for many people, was the beacon of light symbolizing a goddamn break from work. For Caroline (and Klaus, to some extent), it was one of the busiest times of the year.

As Chief Marketing Officer, she was in charge of the special ads that ran around Christmas time. It would be incredibly busy until just after New Years, at which time it would return to her normal schedule of being her normal level of super busy.

This stress was not made easier by the topic they'd been avoiding for weeks: Would they be visiting Caroline's family, or Klaus's?

Both of them were clearly gunning for the other's family, and neither of them was willing to budge. Both of them knew that Caroline would probably win, just because she knew Rebekah and it would be more comfortable than a dinner with either of Caroline's parents, but Klaus seemed determined to hold on for as long as possible in case she changed her mind.

Caroline bit her lip, turning to Klaus, who was absorbed in his painting. "Be honest, why are you so opposed to me meeting your family?"

He looked up, eyebrows raised. "Er... Because my father hates me and is one of the most unpleasant people on the face of the earth?"

"Rebekah said something to that effect a year or so ago, actually."

"So then you're aware that Christmas is painful and I would rather poke out my own eyeballs than sit at a family dinner for more than forty-five seconds?"

"Is it really that bad?" Caroline asked.

"Worse," he said darkly.

"Well, I don't know if you saw the mail, but your mother—"

"Sent an incredibly pretentious-looking invitation to the annual Christmas party? Yes, I did see that. We don't have to go. It's not as though I normally do."

"I know. It's just...She hand-wrote on the invitation that she wanted to meet me. I just don't want her to hate me," Caroline said.

Klaus's expression softened. "Fine, then. But if it goes badly, we'll leave."

Caroline nodded. "Agreed. And we can even use it as a vacation if you'd like. I've never been to England before. You can show me around. I mean, I'll obviously have to work in the evenings, but April can probably handle everything for half a week for so."

He smiled, setting his brush down and cleaning his hands with a rag before sitting beside her. She snuggled against him, laying her head on his shoulder. "I love you," he said casually, playing absently with the belt of her robe.

"I love you too," she said, letting her eyes flutter closed.

It didn't occur to her until that night that it was the first time either of them had said it. Weirdly though, it didn't surprise her. It was just so natural, like it was a given.

The sky was blue, puppies were adorable, Klaus loved Caroline, ducks quacked, Caroline loved Klaus, and everyone looked terrible in their drivers license pictures.

They were just irrefutable facts.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading!  
There was a huge decline in reviews from the last chapter (almost half), so I was wondering if there was something wrong with it. Was the storyline weird? Did something land badly? Let me know!  
As for this chapter, did we think Caroline's reaction to Klaus's email thing was believable? Are we excited for the Christmas party? Do we like how they're settling into each other's lives?  
If everything goes as planned, the next chapter will be the epilogue, which will partly take place at the Christmas party.  
Let me know what you thought! :)  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	6. Epilogue

**A/N: Here is the last chapter. Thank you to D, Wifey, and Sophie for beta work.  
Caroline's tattoo is on the cover for the fic.  
Enjoy!**  
**-Angie**

* * *

"It's nice to meet you," Caroline said to Esther, shaking her hand firmly.

"And you as well," the other woman responded, a stiff smile on her face.

Mikael stood beside her, still and silent, his beady eyes fixed on Klaus, who had his arm around Caroline's waist.

"Why don't you go and say hello to Kol and Elijah? It's been such a long time since you've spoken to them."

"Of course, Mother," Klaus said, apparently happy to get away as soon as possible.

They walked to the refreshment table towards a boy that looked around Rebekah's age, who was obviously trying to chat up a brunette, who clearly wasn't having it.

"Sorry to interrupt," Klaus said politely, and the girl didn't even wait for the excuse, simply murmuring that it was totally fine and then scampering away.

"Aww, Nik, you ruined it," Kol said, going in for a hug, which Klaus returned awkwardly, patting his brother on the back once and stepping away.

"She wasn't interested anyway," Caroline said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, you must be Nik's new girl. Tasty little thing, aren't you?"

"And that is why she wasn't interested," Klaus said dryly, putting his arm around Caroline in a move of ridiculous territorialism that Caroline did not appreciate.

"My name is Caroline," she said. "Not 'Nik's new girl', and you must be Kol. I've heard quite a bit about you from Rebekah."

"You must think I'm a right prick, then," Kol said cheerfully.

Caroline didn't argue, simply shrugging in agreement.

"Well, don't worry, not everything Bekah tells you is true."

"Did you date three women at once?"

He winced. "Yes. But it was only one time, and two of them knew."

"Did you go to boarding school for three years and get suspended twice for having sex with your girlfriend in the school library?"

"No. One of them was technically in the student lounge next door."

"Did you spend half your trust fund on a car that you crashed three months later?"

Kol huffed. "It was the other person's fault, and I had insurance."

Caroline shrugged and gave him a rather pointed, 'point proven' look.

"I'm not as bad as she makes me sound," Kol insisted.

"I'm sure you're not," Caroline agreed. "Rebekah makes everyone sound like a demon."

"No lies detected," Kol said cheerfully. "So, how long will you two be around, then?"

Klaus shrugged. "Just for the week. We're both busy at the company."

"Ah, yes. The cosmetics company. How _is _that working out for you, Nik?"

"Well," Klaus said shortly. "Please excuse me, I have to introduce Caroline to Elijah."

"Of course. Well, pleasure to meet you, darling," Kol said, grabbing her hand and kissing it before flashing her a wink.

"You too," Caroline said politely, before allowing Klaus to steer her towards Elijah.

Once they'd been introduced, Caroline learned that Elijah was the exact opposite of Kol in every way, it seemed. He was polite and put together, and Caroline found herself growing bored at the dullness of the conversation. She excused herself to freshen up, and Klaus gave her a knowing look. She kissed him on he cheek and Elijah pointed her in the direction of the bathroom.

Caroline was accosted by Esther on the way, who gave her a small smile. "Hello again."

"Hello, Mrs. Mikaelson."

"Please, call me Esther."

Caroline nodded.

"You're the CMO for Bold, correct?" Esther said, clearly jumping right into the 'inquisition' phase of meeting the parents.

"Yes."

"Do you enjoy it?"

"Most of it."

Esther nodded. "I see. And you used to be Niklaus' boss, yes?"

"Yes, though we didn't start seeing each other until he was promoted," Caroline said, trying to keep her voice from growing cold.

"My son has had a hard life," Esther said abruptly.

Caroline fought down her initial response ("so I've heard"), instead remaining silent.

"He seems to like you."

"I should hope so," Caroline said lightly.

Esther laughed quietly. "I do hope we get to see more of each other in the future."

"Me too."

"It was lovely to meet you, Caroline. If you'll excuse me, I must ensure that Kol hasn't got himself into too much trouble. From the looks of it I may need to force feed him some water. Pray for daughters, my dear."

Caroline felt herself flush, and Esther just gave her a mischievous smile, patting her lightly on the shoulder. "It was nice to meet you too," Caroline said.

About five minutes later, Caroline capped her lipstick and walked back to the main room, snatching a crab puff off a nearby platter as she went, scanning the area for Klaus. When her eyes finally found him, she felt her stomach sink. Mikael had _just _walked up andstarted a conversation with him, and Caroline was positive he couldn't be saying anything good.

She made her way towards them, and felt her eye twitch involuntarily once she was close enough to hear what Mikael was saying.

"—pathetic enough to need his little sister to _bribe _her friend to get you a job. And of course, you couldn't stop there, you had to fuck your boss for a promotion like the power-hungry little mongrel you are. Although, to be fair, it couldn't have exactly been a chore. She's a hot piece of arse—"

"Say one more word about Caroline and—"

"And you'll what?" Mikael asked, invading Klaus's personal space. "What will you do, boy? Defend her until she runs off with a better catch? Like that little slut Tatia that you were _so _in love with?"

Klaus's hands curled into fists, and he looked like he'd very much like to punch Mikael in the nose, but was restraining himself admirably. Caroline, however, was not in the mood for restraint.

"Excuse me?" she asked coldly, coming up next to Klaus, leveling the incompetent-intern-glare-of-doom on Mikael. "What exactly are you implying, Mr. Mikaelson?"

"Simply that from the looks of it, you are coming up with the short end of the stick on this relationship, my dear."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," she said, slipping her hand into Klaus's and squeezing it lightly.

"Well, you're a very successful woman, and rather pretty. You must have many more options than just Niklaus."

"I do, and Klaus is _just _the one I want," she said stiffly. "I don't like what you're implying, Mr. Mikaelson."

"Hiding behind your girlfriend's skirt, then, boy?" Mikael asked, switching tactics.

Caroline opened her mouth, about to respond, when Klaus spoke, quietly but firmly. "I think that's enough, father. Caroline and I will be leaving momentarily."

"Scared of what your old man might say? Afraid I'll scare her off, are you?"

"No. You're just irritating and not worth our time," Klaus said simply. "Caroline wanted to come here to meet you and mother, hoping that you were decent people, and I think that you've sorely disappointed her. Now that you've proved what a repulsive human being you are, we won't have to spend another moment of our lives anywhere near you. I don't want or need your approval, and neither does Caroline. We'll see ourselves out, shall we, love?"

Caroline nodded, allowing Klaus to steer her towards the door. They paused for a few moments so that Klaus could kiss his mother on the cheek and reassure her that she was welcome so long as she didn't bring her husband, and they left.

"That was…" Caroline started, trailing off as they walked down the front path, her hand neatly slotted in the crook of his elbow.

"A disaster?"

She huffed. "I'm sorry that I didn't believe that it was as bad as you said it would be, but honestly I didn't know there were people in the world that could be so unpleasant to their own children."

"I'm not his child," Klaus pointed out gently.

Caroline shrugged. "I know, but he raised you, and whether you're his biological child or not you still deserve his respect, if not his love. What a dickweed."

Klaus snorted, and Caroline allowed herself a small smile.

"So, what's there to do right outside of London at ten o'clock at night?" Caroline asked, a small smile on her face.

"I'm glad you asked. Let me show you."

**XXX**

"I have a question for you," Klaus said, his front pressed against her back as they laid in their hotel bed, arms wrapped securely around her.

"Hmm?"

"Why a hummingbird?"

"My tattoo, you mean?"

"Yes."

"I like them," she said, shrugging. "I turned eighteen and felt like being rebellious, so I got one with Bonnie."

"Does she also have a hummingbird?"

"Nope. She got an anchor. She's much more into symbolism than I am."

He hummed to show he'd heard her, and she shifted to face him, running a hand down his bare chest. "What about yours?"

"The panther was for similar reasons. More of a 'fuck you' to my parents than anything. I regret it. It's a bit much. The triangle I got when I was at Oxford with my friend Marcel. He has the same tattoo, but on his other shoulder. We were drunk, and it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"And the birds?" she asked, tracing the tattoo with the tip of her finger.

"Freedom," he said simply.

She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "I'm sorry about last night."

"It had to happen sooner or later," he said, kissing the hummingbird on her shoulder and then moving to kiss her neck. "The important thing was that we don't have to do it again," he said, his lips moving against her skin when he spoke.

She hummed her agreement, tipping her head to the side slightly, encouraging him to continue.

"I'm glad I have you in my life. You make me happy," he said, pulling back and tugging her to him so that she was laying her cheek against his chest.

She smirked. "I tend to have that effect on people."

She heard him scoff, his finger tracing up and down her spine.

"Just for the record, you make me happy too."

* * *

_**2 years later...**_

* * *

Caroline looked around at the flowers adorning the edges of the aisle, compulsively needing to double-check everything before the ceremony even though she knew the wedding planner had it handled.

"Jenna has it handled, Care. It'll be fine," Bonnie said, patting Caroline on the arm.

"I don't know how you can be so calm about this," Caroline said, her stomach welling up with nervousness.

"I don't know either, but it's probably that I trust my best friend to pick the best wedding planner possible," Bonnie said logically.

Caroline nodded slowly, taking a deep breath.

"If someone told me this was where we'd be five years ago, would you have believed them?"

"Probably not," Bonnie said, shrugging. "But it doesn't matter whether we expected it or not. I'm happy with where we are. You and Klaus are still annoyingly perfect, Rebekah has her white picket fence, Katherine's _finally _happy…"

"You're waiting for the other shoe to drop," Caroline assessed.

"I guess. Although probably not in the way you're thinking. I trust Kol, I just..."

"Cold feet?" Caroline asked, grinning.

Bonnie shrugged.

"It'll be fine," Caroline said, rubbing her friend's back.

"Easy for you to say, you and Klaus are...I don't even know. You guys make it seem easy."

"As flattered as I am, we have trouble like everyone else. Do you remember how much we fought about Henrik?"

"Of course."

"And it all worked out," Caroline said, shrugging. "We both kept our jobs, and he's totally fine."

"To be fair, it's only been about six months."

"Six months of the kid being totally fine," Caroline said teasingly. "Speaking of, I should go make sure Klaus hasn't gotten them into any trouble. He's a bit hopeless."

"Which you find endearing," Klaus said from behind her, making her jump.

"Most of the time," Caroline allowed, holding out her hands, wriggling her fingers for the coffee cup Klaus handed her.

"You are the best," she said between sips.

"Because I get you coffee?" he asked, amused.

"Among other reasons."

"Your parents are gross, aren't they, Henrik?" Bonnie asked, leaning down to tap Henrik on the nose, making the baby babble and wriggle in Klaus's arms.

Bonnie held out her arms and Klaus was about to hand her the baby, but turned when Caroline yelled a strangled, "No!"

"Everything all right, love?"

"He'll spit up on her wedding dress," Caroline said primly.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading! The wonderful feedback I've gotten on this story has been so encouraging and awesome, and I am so happy that you guys liked it so much. I'm curious about what you thought of the ending. Was it satisfying? Did it wrap up well?  
This story was supposed to be a short piece, so that was the reason it moved so quickly, and I hope that wasn't too distracting.  
I'm so excited to share more of my work with you, and if you haven't read my other stuff, you should totally check it out. :)**

**Hugs!**  
**-Angie**


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